Trip Report - Japan - Page 3

dex · ‎03-09-2010

Omg That is small!I guess there is no room for visitors.I hope your day was fabulous.

tobes · ‎08-02-2010

internet explorer has a on screen keyboard i am using now beause i lost use of some keys on my dell keyboard

CoffeeNut · ‎03-15-2010

@World Traveler Enjoying your trip report so far. Take some pictures of the meals you have. I'm curious to see what a typical lunch or dinner is.

World Traveler · ‎02-02-2015

Tuesday, March 26

One of the discussions we had in Tokyo was about the Emperor. He appears to be loved by the Japanese, but the situation has arisen whereby he wants to step down, retire. This is unheard of in a country where the Emperor remains in his position until he dies. But he feels that he doesn’t want to make a mistake in how he rules and perhaps abdicate to the Crown Prince. He has alluded to this in some of his speeches.

The people don’t want him to step down. Although the Crown Prince could probably rule okay, it is his wife they are concerned about. She has been under immense pressure to produce an heir and has not been able to. She does have a girl, but the line of succession requires a boy.

The princess has retreated because of this pressure and is not seen to do many outside activities that her role as princess would entail. They are afraid if she becomes Empress, it will be too much stress for her and she will not be able to handle it.

The Crown Princess’ brother now has a male child and this takes a lot of pressure off the Crown Princess to produce a boy. Since the birth of the brother’s son, she is a little more relaxed and has been going out a bit more and being engaged in activities where she is seen.

One of the ways that the people think could solve the problem is if the Emperor would remain and be a figurehead, and the Crown Prince would do the day to day activities. But the concern is, would they have to pay for TWO Emperors?

Right now if the Emperor would die that means that the Crown Prince’s brother would become the next Emperor because he has the male heir, even though the Crown Prince is older than his brother. So it is an interesting situation that I’ll want to keep up on.

When I went to breakfast at our hotel in Tokyo, I noticed there was a basket under each chair. It’s the kind and size of basket you might find in a grocery store when you just want to pick up a few things. I couldn’t figure out what that basket was for and when I asked the guide she said, well that is where you put your purse or your briefcase or anything else that you bring with you. The Japanese do not want you to have your purse and other things have to touch the floor. Nice!

World Traveler · ‎02-02-2015

Tuesday, March 26, continued

Today was very interesting. We left Tokyo for Hakone, but it was the stops along the way that we enjoyed so much.

First of all, we got a very good view of Mt. Fuji. I believe it is around 12,000 feet high. But what was exciting for us was that we could see it perfectly, all of it. It usually can only be fully seen around 180 days out of the year. Other times, the top is covered with clouds.

World Traveler · ‎02-02-2015

Tuesday, March 26, continued

We spent around four hours in a small village with about 420 people, called Ashigawa. We met several of the Japanese housewives and we were put to work making lunch, which meant we had to create hoto noodles! They are traditional flat rice noodles.

Of course, first we had to take our shoes off and put on slippers.